Birmingham: Airport Nostalgia

[Ray Finkle]

BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr

 

[Ray Finkle]

Apologies for the amount but there are so many great photo's on there with plenty more to see if you follow the link.


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr

I do miss seeing these.


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr

With a British Airway 757 on stand.


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr


BHX Heritage by Framalex images, on Flickr

 

[Aviador]

Thanks for posting those Ray Finkle, the memories are flooding back now and I'm starting to feel old, heaven knows what real oldies feel like? 😀

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thanks for posting those Ray Finkle, the memories are flooding back now and I'm starting to feel old, heaven knows what real oldies feel like?

Good for the elderly brains (what's left of them - the brains that is not the elderly) to see so many picture of yore, as it gets the near rusted parts moving again, ever so slightly.

Many thanks, Ray, for all of them.

 

[G-MANS]

Hi all, just found this brilliant thread after researching online for old photos of BHX and so decided to register on the forum.

I also just brought the book by Mike Vines and it is great, but I have a question.

The Eurohub was opened in summer 1991, but I've been trying to figure out when the new "peaked roof" building was constructed to replace the old concrete one. I mean the main building that spans between the old Eurohub and the new International Pier.

Whenever I look at photos of the Eurohub, the main span is still the old concrete building. But all the photos of the construction of the new International Pier (circa 2008) all show the peaked roof section already built. Was this section built in the 2000s as part of the international pier development?

This photo shows the main span I'm talking about, with the big black terminal building behind it:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/91432582@N06/11587448326/

Sabena went bust in 2001 so I've narrowed it down to being built some time between 2001 and 2008.

Thanks

 

[thunderchild]

If memory serves me correctly the construction that linked the two terminals was built in 1999 and opened in early 2000. I think it was slightly extended after that to continue all the way to what is now the international pier.

 

[G-MANS]

If memory serves me correctly the construction that linked the two terminals was built in 1999 and opened in early 2000. I think it was slightly extended after that to continue all the way to what is now the international pier.

Thanks for that, wonder if anyone else can pinpoint it for sure.

That Monarch bird in the background looks to me like G-OZBC, which left the Monarch fleet in 2000 so 1999 sounds about right.

Edit: just realised I messed the dates up in my first post - I meant to say I narrowed it down to being built before 2001, not after.

 

[Ray Finkle]

Hi Diverskii and welcome to the forum.

Thunderchild seems to be pretty much spot on, my memory isn't so great these days but this is from the BHX Wikipedia page.

3 March 2000: The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the £40 million redevelopment of the airport. The redevelopment introduced a new customs and immigration hall, twelve new shops, a new baggage reclaim area, a new arrivals concourse, a new pier with three air bridges, sixteen new check-in desks in Terminal 1. They also linked Terminal One with Terminal Two (previously "Eurohub") for the first time with the newly built Millennium Link. Following on from this, a total of £18 million was spent on a replacement for the Maglev; the AirRail Link people mover, which was the first in the world to be used at an airport. Along with this, the public transport interchange was built to extend Birmingham International railway station for airport users. This has since been named Birmingham International Interchange.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham ... 80s_-_2000

 

[G-MANS]

Hi Diverskii and welcome to the forum.

Thunderchild seems to be pretty much spot on, my memory isn't so great these days but this is from the BHX Wikipedia page.

3 March 2000: The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the £40 million redevelopment of the airport. The redevelopment introduced a new customs and immigration hall, twelve new shops, a new baggage reclaim area, a new arrivals concourse, a new pier with three air bridges, sixteen new check-in desks in Terminal 1. They also linked Terminal One with Terminal Two (previously "Eurohub") for the first time with the newly built Millennium Link. Following on from this, a total of £18 million was spent on a replacement for the Maglev; the AirRail Link people mover, which was the first in the world to be used at an airport. Along with this, the public transport interchange was built to extend Birmingham International railway station for airport users. This has since been named Birmingham International Interchange.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham ... 80s_-_2000

Thanks for that Ray.

Interesting that that mentions a new pier with 3 air bridges, which bit of the airport is that? It seems the "peaked roof" structure was called the Millennium Link then, but I thought terminals one and two were linked by the old concrete structure.

 

[Ray Finkle]

The new pier with 3 air bridges is pier B which was built in front of the two old domestic air bridges which exited the back of the terminal at roughly the same time , it now houses stands 57L/C/R, 58 and 59.

The old concrete structure did link the two terminals but was not open for the public to walk through. It once housed the airport police station with the rest ancillary offices both of which moved into Diamond House.

 

[G-MANS]

The new pier with 3 air bridges is pier B which was built in front of the two old domestic air bridges which exited the back of the terminal at roughly the same time , it now houses stands 57L/C/R, 58 and 59.

The old concrete structure did link the two terminals but was not open for the public to walk through. It once housed the airport police station with the rest ancillary offices both of which moved into Diamond House.

I see, thanks very much for answering my questions.

One last question if you don't mind - do you happen to know why the stand numbers don't follow in order at BHX? There are big gaps in the sequence. Is it to do with the date they were added?

 

[Ray Finkle]

I see, thanks very much for answering my questions.

No problem :hatsoff:

do you happen to know why the stand numbers don't follow in order at BHX? There are big gaps in the sequence. Is it to do with the date they were added?

I honestly don't know, it could well be to do with dates. The only other explanation I can think of is the gaps are there for if stands need to be reconfigured, you could add a stand number or two without having to renumber them all?

 

[CL44]

Looking through some of those photos make me smile. I clearly remember the CO DC10 coming into BHX (especially the first time it came in for the 757 on maintenance cover. I had already moved cargo on their first flight with a 757 and lo and behold I did exactly the same on the first substitute DC10 flight as well (and in fact on the first scheduled DC10 when timetabled permanently). Cargo ops were so used to limiting themselves from BHX to the 757 that when I tried to book a pallet of cargo on board the flight they refused (until I told them what aircraft was running the flight from the next Monday onwards that is). I never did let their sales rep forget that!!!

Seems strange seeing the PIA A310 in the nostalgia thread. We had one of those in last week at BHX (Now that is nostalgia). It was the Monarch DC10 that took the biscuit at BHX. It was in a high density seating format and boy did it use all the available space to get off the deck. How the buses on the A45 avoided the wheels I do not know! If memory serves me right the aircraft used to be the Zambian Airways aircraft (with the cockpit now based up the road at MAN). I used that flight many many times for cargo while sending goods to Zambia (back in the days when they had money to buy goods).

 

[Ray Finkle]

Birmingham Airport T1 in what must have been the late 80's?

Picture courtesy of BHX Twitter.

 

[Brum X]

Spantax DC-8 at BHX

I travelled on one of these on BHX-PMI, circa 1987.

BIRMINGHAM UK 08 MAY 1987 SPANTAX DOUGLAS DC8 EC-EAM by simonbutler2, on Flickr

 

[Ray Finkle]

Nice picture, I was 12 in 1987 but can remember day trips to the airport with my dad as if they were yesterday.

That looks like an ambulance attending the rear of the JAT aircraft.

 

[Hassaan]

Birmingham Airport T1 in what must have been the late 80's?

Picture courtesy of BHX Twitter.

Thanks for this. That does look old! That sign with all the cities on there seems to have been there for quite a while. 😀

 

[CL44]

I remember that sign when it was originally at the Elmdon site. Does anyone know where it is now?

 

[Ray Finkle]

It's on Concorde Road in between the drop off car park and Diamond House.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps?ll=52.451 ... 1&t=h&z=20

 

[Ray Finkle]

The old terminal building sometime during the early 80's. Picture taken from the BHX Twitter.